As numbers of airline flights have increased to accommodate increasing numbers of air travelers, many of the world's airports, aerodromes, and air fields have experienced a concomitant increase in use that their terminals and other facilities were not designed to handle. In airports with high flight volume, terminal gate and other space for arriving aircraft to park, unload passengers and cargo, be serviced, and then load for departure is at a premium. As a result, delays are far too frequently the norm as aircraft must wait until cleared upon arrival to proceed to a gate or to be cleared for pushback to leave a gate upon departure. To minimize delays and keep flights on schedule, accommodating a large number of arriving aircraft requires an airport to supply a large number of terminal parking spaces, at gates or other locations, as well as personnel and service vehicles to direct gate traffic and provide baggage transfer and other services. Similarly, accommodating a large number of departing aircraft requires an airport to supply a large number of pushback tugs and personnel to clear parking space at a terminal for arriving aircraft. Increasing the numbers of gates or parking locations at an airport might help to alleviate the situation. This potential solution, however, involves the costly and time-consuming permitting and construction of airport facilities that few, if any, airports are presently able to undertake.
Most aircraft terminals use passenger loading bridges at gates that are spaced to provide and maintain the necessary clearance between the wingtips of designated kinds of aircraft that park at the gates between arrival and departure. If the required clearance between an aircraft scheduled to arrive at a designated gate and the two aircraft parked at immediately adjacent gates is not available, the arriving aircraft cannot taxi to its designated gate until at least one of the other aircraft is pushed back from the gate. The resulting delay not only leaves passengers in the arriving aircraft sitting in the aircraft on the tarmac, possibly missing connecting flights, but also leaves departing passengers in the terminal waiting. This sort of delay can have a far-reaching domino effect that plays havoc with passengers' and airlines' schedules and can ultimately negatively impact airlines' service and profits. Even when aircraft do not use passenger loading bridges or jet bridges to transfer passengers between the aircraft and a terminal, space to park the aircraft close to the terminal may not be available when needed if departing aircraft cannot be pushed back on schedule due to a range of constraints, including possible jet blast from incoming or departing aircraft.
Systems for alleviating aircraft parking at airport terminal gates to avoid delay and shorten turnaround time have been proposed. McClain et al, for example, describe in U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,297 a method and system for parking aircraft at crowded terminals that provides a ground level platform, which is elevated after an aircraft drives onto it so that the aircraft's wings overlap the wings of adjacent aircraft, allowing more aircraft to be parked at terminal gate areas than would otherwise be permitted. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,914,524, Hutton describes a method and system for improving aircraft gate parking at an airport that defines parking spaces at an airport terminal for aircraft of a known type and moves passenger loading bridges to accommodate the minimum clearance required for this type of aircraft. The positions of passenger loading bridges are adjusted as needed to accommodate aircraft arriving at defined parking spaces. A computer-based system with a database of information relating to aircraft arrival times and defined parking space availability in communication with bridge controllers is updated at selected intervals or during peak traffic periods to ensure that aircraft are parked efficiently. The McClain et al system requires disruption of gate areas to construct the disclosed parking platform apparatus, which, once constructed, is likely to be rather unwieldy in operation. The Hutton system could help to alleviate airline or aircraft delays specifically due to parking challenges. Neither of the aforementioned systems, however, addresses other significant causes of airport terminal gate traffic delays.
Aircraft are currently parked at airport terminals and gates as described and shown in the aforementioned patents with the nose end of the aircraft pointed toward the terminal or gate. This parking orientation is used because an aircraft uses one or more of its engines to power its travel from a landing location to a parking location. When an aircraft's engines are operating, jet blast and engine ingestion can compromise the safety of persons and ground equipment within the engine hazard area, especially near a gate or terminal where there are likely to be greater numbers of personnel and equipment, as well as other aircraft. When all aircraft are parked in the same nose-in orientation, the danger areas where engine ingestion or jet blast could occur when aircraft engines are operating are at least somewhat predictable. Other aircraft parking orientations besides the currently used nose-in orientation could allow more aircraft to park at gates, stands, or other parking areas near an airport terminal. For example, parking an aircraft with the longest axis of the aircraft body parallel to the terminal or at an angle relative to the terminal other than the perpendicular orientation currently used may actually allow more efficient use of terminal parking space resources. The present need to use aircraft engines to drive aircraft to terminal gates and other parking areas, however, prohibits the use of these aircraft parking orientations because of the risks of jet blast and engine ingestion associated with aircraft engine operation.
A need exists, therefore, for an airport, aerodrome, or air field terminal aircraft traffic and parking management system that manages aircraft traffic into and out of gate and other parking locations to eliminate many of the causes for delays affecting departing and arriving aircraft traffic and that enhances traffic flow and the efficiency of airport parking and gate operations without the time and expense of designing and building new airports or significantly altering existing airport structures.